Z-Hills Scrambles!

Despite dodgy weather all week (high winds, lots of rain & all kinds of related excitement), 13 teams assembled for the 2009 Memorial Day 4-Way Scrambles held at Skydive City in Zephyrhills, FL. At a scramble meet, the organizer will put teams together based on experience level. Each team is compromised of an experienced 4-way competitor, 2 experienced/intermediate jumper along with 1 rookie. Competition is usually tight and many unexpected things can happen – but those meets are always a lot of fun.

Two rounds were completed before a humongous storm rolled in and prematurely put an end to the competition. At that point, meet director (and Mr. October on the PD Calendar) Oren Kalb instructed competitors to hide out in the bunker, to conduct the awards ceremony, watch videos and swap stories.

This year’s King of Scrambles is Ari Perelman! His team, BuRod’s Nightmare, simply crushed the competition and flew beautifully. Flying with Ari were Janine Colombo, Daniel Hagerman & Yvonne Saa.
Team Bling Bling came in 2nd place, guided by team captain Craig Sagalow. Others on the team were Brian Lieberman, Ben Foster and Steve Snow.
3rd place went to team by the curious name of Inflicting Pain, with Rodney Cruce at the helm. Other Pain Inflictors were Quinn Lamb, Hooper & Sebastian (sorry guys, we don’t have your full names!).

Skydive City did a great job of hosting the event – manager TK Hayes and his crew definitely know how to throw a boogie as many visiting skydivers know. The unique thing about the Memorial Day Scrambles is that the vast majority of participants are locals – who enjoy coming together after the busy winter season and re-group for calmer summer times.